A leading US cybersecurity company claims that Chinese government-funded campaigns are spreading misinformation about Canadian rare earth mining company Appia Rare Earths & Uranium Corp. in an effort to consolidate China’s dominance in the sector and crush Canadian ambitions. Mandiant Inc. based in Virginia, founded by former U.S. government security experts, said in a report that Toronto-based Appia and two other rare earth companies, Lynas Rare Earths Ltd. LYSDY and USA Rare Earth LLC were targeted by an online network called Dragonbridge, a front for the People’s Republic of China (PRC). “Given that the extraction of rare earth minerals is of strategic importance to the PRC, and these entities question the dominance of the PRC in the global market in this industry, our experts believe that Dragonbridge is aiming at this sector to maintain its advantage.” , Mandiant wrote in an email to The Globe and Mail. Rare earths are used in a range of high-tech, clean-tech and military applications. They are mined in extremely small quantities compared to bulk goods such as copper. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, China controls about 80 percent of the rare earth industry, while Canada currently has only a small rare earth mine in operation. In June, after encouraging drilling results in Appia’s rare earth project in Saskatchewan, several Twitter accounts that Mandiant said came from Dragonbridge dropped negative comments that sought to provoke public contempt. “The idea of extracting rare earth items from abandoned mines is frightening,” Gonzalez Bonnie wrote on Twitter. “Our lakes will be destroyed,” said @ Farrah72032130. Tom Drivas, CEO of Appia, said he did not know about the tweets until Mandiant brought them to his attention. Appia’s share price has fallen significantly since June, but Mr. Drivas was not sure if the reports played a role. He urged investors to look only at his company’s regulated SEDAR documents and not rely on social media posts. Dragonbridge also targeted Australia’s Lynas Rare Earths earlier in the year to try to rally support to protest the construction of a rare earth processing plant in Texas, Mandiant said. The Facebook and Twitter posts, which Mandiant believes originated in China, were designed to look like they were posted by locals in the United States. Someone with the Teri Cox handle wrote on Twitter in April that Lynas was dumping toxic radioactive waste. “Texas people should not tolerate that, either [our] “the children will be affected,” he wrote. John Hultquist, vice president of threat intelligence, told Mandiant in an interview that his company has been monitoring Dragonbridge since 2019, when it started as a Chinese organization aimed at undermining supporters of democracy in Hong Kong. Only recently has Dragonbridge started targeting the private sector and zeroing in on critical minerals. “If you are a company, now you may have to worry about a well-resourced actor promoting misinformation or actually trying to politically undermine you or attack your brand,” Hultquist said. “This is a completely new type of threat to most companies.” The attacks on a Canadian company come after Ottawa recently announced it intends to crack down on the Chinese invasion of the critical mineral sector. Earlier this month, Natural Resources Secretary Jonathan Wilkinson told The Globe that the government was going to take a much more protective trade stance against China. Since the early 2000s, Chinese state-owned companies have invested billions abroad to secure long-term supply of critical minerals. For the most part, Ottawa has adopted a laissez-faire approach, allowing the acquisition of Canadian critical mineral companies from China, allowing Chinese companies to take large stakes in critical mineral mines, and allowing Chinese exporters to control their purchases. metals produced by Canadian companies. Earlier this year, the Liberal government came under fire for allowing the sale of Canadian lithium development company Neo Lithium Corp. to Chinese state-owned Zijin Mining Group Co. Ltd. without conducting an in-depth security check. Mr Wilkinson told The Globe earlier this month that the government would be “very careful” from now on about what it was prepared to allow, and said tougher controls were coming, not just on Chinese takeover attempts. Canadian minerals, but above the exit agreements as well. Your time is precious. Have the Top Business Headlines newsletter with convenient delivery to your inbox in the morning or evening. Register today.
